Virtual Surfing

Review

I came to Australia in the early 90’s and was introduced to surfing by my father in law. He was an exceptional body surfer, having started at a young age. My first experience with him was on the renowned Northern Beaches of Sydney, specifically a beach called North Curl Curl. Boy, it was an eye-opener to me! Not only did I stand on the only bee on the entire massive beach, but the surf looked sensational from the shore! My teacher was truly extraordinary, and within 30 minutes I understood what to do . . . well, to a degree. I was amazed at how long I could hold my breath when being pounded underwater, to be honest with you.  All the while, I could see these unbelievable people in the corner of my eye, standing on boards and riding these waves for longer than I could ever imagine doing. Lucky you, you going to experience this at home, right in front of your screen, in Virtual Surfing.

Virtual Surfing is a sport simulation developed and published by Waveor, and is available on Steam as an early access title.

At this stage the game consists of two modes of play within 7 locations (of which 4 are currently available).  You’ll be able to play in free surf, learning the trade to become the next Billy Slater or Keely Andrew. Or, if you feel up to it, you can surf through challenges at each of the destinations.

But first you have to customise your character, which includes the option of being male or female, and choosing what both your swimsuit and surfboard look like. By the way, you can even upload a picture to your surfboard to make it truly unique.

After doing so, it will be up to you whether you opt in to the free practice or the challenges mode. Personally, I would recommend learning how to control your character first before attempting the challenges.  After choosing the venue and the weather patterns, it will take time to see how good you are at riding the waves, including how far you can ride in tubes, or showing off with spectacular tricks.

While playing endlessly in the free practice, where you’ll will be rewarded with points for successful tricks, it will be a bit different in the challenge mode. There you’ll be presented with a number of challenges, and you’ll have a certain amount time in which to achieve each of the challenges (roughly 1 minute and 40 seconds per challenge).  Some challenges might include several specific tricks, such as surfing within a tube for a certain time or distance. It can take you several attempts to get there, which is fun.

It will take you a while to become familiar with the controls, especially if you are using the keyboard. Personally, I prefer using a gamepad in this case.

Whether you are a hardcore surfer nerd or not, you’ll enjoy playing this game and learning how to ride a tube, performing 200-degree turns, plus bottom turns and top turns, as well as executing sensational 180 degrees jumps. You can even choose the camera angles to make your experiences more real and enjoyable.

Great Graphics, and I really like the physics when you twist and turn on the wave – it’s well done. There are sound effects, but in my case, there is no music at all, which is a bit of a let down, I must say - I was expecting a cool soundtrack. However, it’s a solid early access in my opinion. Let’s see